Zest Released an AI Agent for Restaurant Selection and Table Booking in Text Messages

On October 30, 2026, startup Zest introduced a new feature — a personal AI agent (a program that accepts a request in natural language and performs an action) for finding restaurants. The agent works in text messages. The user writes to it, receives options and can immediately book a table. This was reported by TechCrunch, the author of the material is Sarah Perez. Zest is a restaurant search app that launched earlier in 2026.

The difference from the previous product is in the interface. Previously, recommendations lived inside the mobile app. Now the agent responds in a chat. According to Zest founder and CEO Mario Gomez-Hall, the agent responds based on the user’s own history and that of their friends. It does not need weeks of conversations because it starts with places where the user has already been. Zest was founded in November 2024. The company raised $1.8 million in pre-seed (the earliest funding round) from Alexis Ohanian of 776 and Steve Young of Kindred Ventures.

In practice, Zest links users’ credit card data through Plaid (a service through which apps connect to banking data). This way the app sees where a person actually eats and builds a taste profile. The new agent uses this history for selection. The feature description states that the agent can combine the tastes of several people, put options to a vote and make bookings. Instinct and Poke have similar agents in text messages. Zest says the launch reflects a shift in how startups view AI: conversational agents take on tasks for which one previously had to open a separate app.

What remains unknown: there is no data on which platforms the agent works on, in which cities it is available and which booking services it is connected to. There is also no data on the price of the feature and when it will exit the limited launch.